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Post by sunofdarkchild on Oct 6, 2015 8:44:58 GMT -5
Issue 8  My Dinner With BuzzSylvia springs the blind date on Linda literally at the last minute, as she finds out right before the door bell rings. And of course it's Buzz, looking clean-shaven and quoting Mary Jane Watson. Naturally Linda wants him gone, but Sylvia invites him in and he puts on a charm act to ingratiate himself with Linda's parents. Linda doesn't know what to do. Buzz's presence puts her parents in danger, but he may want her to attack, and that would reveal her secret identity. She panics when Sylvia opens the box Buzz brought, but it turns out to just be a flan. They start dinner, and Buzz tells them how all of humanity is ridiculous and it doesn't matter what they do since eventually even the planet has a limited lifespan. Linda continues to spew venom at him, and Fred starts to get suspicious that they know each other. They take a brake and Fred explains about a citation he received for rescuing a child from a burning building, which leads into a discussion about fear. When prompted Linda says that her biggest fear is her family being in danger, and she asks Buzz what he fears. Buzz describes the horrors he's seen man inflict on his fellow man, and admits that what frightens him the most is that nothing frightens him anymore. Fred goes to Sylvia in the kitchen to tell her that he thinks Buzz is creepy (about time one of them caught on). While left alone, Linda assumes her blonde form and threatens to smash Buzz's head if he doesn't leave, but Buzz knows it's an empty threat. Buzz tells her her problem is that she cares too much. They resume dinner and start playing 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,' but Linda brings up Buzz's dark side, which prompts him to sort-of tell his origin in a way no one else would take seriously. At some point Lucifer and most of his demons left hell to go to earth, but one of the smarter demons became an agent of Chaos. The thing is he needed an opposite number, and the opposite of a demon is an angel. And since he was part human and had a touch of good in him, the angel which was to be his opposite also had to be part-human and have a touch of evil in her to be truly be a mirror image of him. At this point even Sylvia is starting to find Buzz creepy, and he apologizes while saying that Supergirl merged with her daughter as a joke. Fred and Sylvia go to get the flan, and Linda asks if she's supposed to believe anything Buzz says. He says it's her choice, but time is running out. When Fred and Sylvia come back he talks about dramatic imperative and how the plot escalates as the second act moves into the third act. As a practical demonstration, Buzz snaps his fingers, and the wall explodes, blowing everyone but him away. A man flying in a mini-tornado and wielding two scythes appears, having caused the explosion, and Buzz calls him Tempus Fugit. Time has run out. My thoughts: Buzz looks really weird clean shaven. With his scruff it's harder to notice just how unnaturally long his face is. There's like 6 inches between his eyes and his mouth. The Danvers must be pretty open-minded about looks. Speaking of which, they didn't mind that on a blind date in her parents home Linda was only wearing a sports bra and tiny gym shorts. Ok, she was only told about the date about a minute before Buzz got there, but neither Fred nor Sylvia thought to tell her to put on a shirt and a pair of pants? It may well be that she doesn't have a change of clothes there since she doesn't live with her parents, and they know that it wasn't her choice to go on a date in that outfit, but it's also weird to have her parents fully dressed, Buzz in a suit and tie, while the title character spends the entire issue with barely any more skin covered up than she'd have if she was in nothing but her underwear,especially when she never dresses that way in any of the previous issues. Was it to show how off-guard and vulnerable she is, because the story didn't need it. Art choices aside, this issue is brimming with tension. Buzz is in complete control the whole time, and not only does Linda not know how to stop him without revealing her secret ID, trying to do so may be playing into his hands as much as not doing anything. It's her greatest fear come to pass and despite being Supergirl she's powerless to do anything about it. I suppose when she first saw Buzz she could have slammed the door in his face and screamed to her parents that that was the guy who kidnapped her to get Fred on her side, but there's no guarantee that that would keep Buzz out and it was only really an option during the first few seconds. Once that moment passed all she has left is trying to provoke Buzz into saying something incriminating, which fails because he holds all the cards. We get a bit of Buzz's origin. Apparently he's a full-fledged demon who is part human, and apparently he wanted Supergirl and Linda to merge in the first place so he'd have an appropriate opponent. And apparently Supergirl is an angel if he is to be believed, though that idea isn't explored yet. This is an example of how stories don't need to be filled with action to keep you on the edge of your seat. Until the last page all that happens is people talking and eating dinner, but you could cut the tension with a knife. If only they didn't choose this issue to change Linda's wardrobe. B+ |
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Post by dupersuper on Oct 6, 2015 9:12:53 GMT -5
I love the tie-in to Lucifer closing down Hell in Sandman in Buzz's origin.
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Oct 7, 2015 8:32:01 GMT -5
Issue 9  Tempus FugitThe issue opens with the boy who appeared with Fred's nametag in issue 4 having dinner with his grandparents. His name is Wally. He says that he has to go help a friend and his grandparents let him. They are worried about him because he is a strange child. At the Danvers residence, Linda has recovered from the explosion, but her parents haven't. She blames herself for not taking out Buzz sooner. Tempus attacks her and she dodges. She thinks to herself that Tempus looks familiar before using a tk blast to knock him out of the house. Buzz is gone, but he speaks to her telepathically, threatening her, her family, her friends, and the entire town. Fred and Sylvia start to recover, though both are hurt. Fred calls the police and Linda tells them she's going after the guys who blew up their wall since Fred isn't up to it. At first Fred is against the idea, but she promises to only point them out to the cops or Supergirl and says that she can't let them get away with what they did. Fred finally sees a bit of himself in her determination, and they hug and say that they love each other. The moment Linda leaves Tempus attacks again, blowing up her whole house. Linda screams and flies into the wreckage. At the newspaper, Cutter hears about something going on at the Danvers home and goes to investigate. Tempus goes over to Buzz, who is watching from a nearby roof. He warns Buzz not to 'default' on his promise to deliver to the Chaos Lords a fallen angel and thinks that Buzz has developed feelings for Linda/Supergirl. Some black stuff goes into or out of Tempuss mouth and for a second his voice changes and he starts to ask Buzz what is going on. Buzz tells Tempus to go to the hospital where Mattie is when he notices Wally staring at him from across the street. Disturbed by the kid, he tells Tempus to kill him. However, Wally uses his baseball bat to deflect the blast back at Buzz, who barely dodges it. Cutter arrives at the Danvers house, and realizes that nobody could have survived that explosion and fire. He sees a great ball of flame shoot out of the wreckage and into the sky. Linda is mad with rage and grief over her parents' deaths. She doesn't want to be Supergirl anymore. She decides that she is Linda, who knows evil and what evil fears, death. She's going to kill both Buzz and Tempus. At the hospital, Tempus is chasing Mattie when Supergirl, now in costume, breaks through the wall. She fires a tk blast at him, but this time he blocks it with his scythes. He then slashes her side, cutting her as if she was no more invulnerable than anyone else. H attempts a killing blow, but she catches the scythes as they descend, cutting herself again, but still stopping them with her strength. Supergirl thinks that both she and Linda died in the warehouse when they merged and that they're burning together. She sees distorted and evil images of the people she loves and thinks that the world is sick because god is insane and there is therefore no point in having Supergirl's morals. At that moment the spirit of Linda appears to Supergirl, saying that seeing the world through Supergirl's eyes has shown her how good the world can be, and that while Supergirl may have lived with the feeling that she wasn't human, she's the most human person Linda has ever met. But Supergirl doesn't listen to Linda. All the good she tries to do, all the sacrifices she tries to make, they all end in death and misery. Now crying blood, she vows vengeance and that Buzz and Tempus will die for their sins. On the roof of the hospital Buzz gloats about how he has manipulated Supergirl into this position and hopes that when she falls the Chaos Lords choke on her. Supergirl smashes Tempus out of the building, now crying fire in addition to blood, and Tempus starts to at afraid of her. His pleas for mercy only enrage her further, and she begins to beat the life out of him. Buzz continues to gloat at her, telling her not to let anything stop her, especially what she had hoped to be. Then he starts pausing and tellsher not to let him stop her. His demeanor changes, and he asks if Supergirl really wants vengeance. It used to be Linda's way, but it isn't anymore. He says that this is the moment they truly become one, and the question is, one what? The shock of Buzz of all people encouraging her to stop causes Supergirl to realize that this is not what she wants to be, and she stops before she can kill Tempus. Tempus is furious, because if Buzz hadn't interfered she would have killed their 'proxy' and then she would have been theirs. Buzz is sucked into a tornado for defaulting and when Supergirl tries to save him, asking why he did it, he tells her that some things should be taken on faith. There is a lightning strike as Buzz disappears, and Supergirl is knocked out. Wally's shadow appears over her, and she wakes up in her apartment as Linda Dick Malverne is also there, sleeping on her bed. She realizes that he was Tempus, and that the point was to get her to fall by murdering her would-be-boyfriend. The phone rings, and to Linda's surprise it's her parents, wanting to know why she hasn't shown up for dinner like she promised. With Tempus gone time has been reset so they were never killed. When he hangs up Fred remarks about how irresponsible Linda is, and Sylvia says that they have to love her anyway, because she's their child. The issue ends on an image of Wally walking away from a newspaper thanking Gary Frank. My thoughts: And so we say goodbye to Gary Frank on the art. He definitely saved his best for last. You feel Supergirl's pain, both physical and emotional. Then there's this page.  Linda's bloody face towering over the battle, the contrast between her eyes and Supergirl's. That panel with just Linda's eyes needs no words and no explanation. Frank always did a great job, especially his rendition of Grodd, but this was something special. Onto the story-a little quibble. After being enraged to the point of murder and deciding that she doesn't want to be Supergirl anymore, she goes home to change into her Supergirl outfit before getting to the whole murder/revenge thing. I know I complained about her outfit in the previous issue, but it doesn't make sense that she changed clothes at that exact moment. It's just so she'll be in costume for the big fight, and it's a very minor detail. Other than that I have no problems with this issue. This is the climax of the struggle between Supergirl and Buzz, and it ends, and despite there being a lot of action and blood, the true battle is psychological/emotional, like the best showdowns between Batman/Joker or Superman/Luthor. Buzz has been a good main antagonist. He may not be all that powerful himself, but he knows just how to manipulate those who are really powerful, and he's always one step ahead of our heroine. The moment where Linda and Fred finally make up was touching, thanks to the artwork on the facial expressions. It's a shame it got erased when the timeline reset. But that moment must've made what happened next even worse. Linda's father tells her he loves for what is probably the first time in years, and then he and her mother are murdered seconds later. Ouch. I see a parallel in Supergirl/Linda's attitude here to her attitude during the previous issues. Before she identified as Supergirl because that was easier than identifying as Linda. Now it is the reverse. Now she wants to abandon the Supergirl identity altogether because it is too hard for Supergirl to deal with loss and as Linda it is easier to understand evil. And it's the Supergirl part of her personality that wants to be Linda. The Linda half wants no part of it. She's already been redeemed. It isn't the first time Supergirl was driven to a murderous rage. Well before merging with Linda she went about destroying all of Luthor's houses before throwing him out of his office window 100+ stories up. It was only Superman's intervention that stopped Luthor from going splat. Though she was talked down a lot easier then. Linda's anger was generally more passive, hence why she did nothing about the Meeke's until Buzz brought the reverend to her. Of course Linda was powerless while Supergirl is powerful enough to hurt Superman, but it is clear that it is only the Supergirl half that wants to kill. Ironic considering that Supergirl is the hero while Linda is the 'evil' one in need of redemption. As for Buzz's turn. It was foreshadowed last issue when he mentioned that he had a streak of good in him, and in this issue when Tempus asks if he has feelings for Linda/Supergirl. He also hinted that he knowingly caused their merging. On some level creating this new Supergirl may have been his way of trying to do some good. For all the darkness of not only the issue but this opening arc as a whole, they both end on a note of hope. Linda can be redeemed. Supergirl can fight for her ideals. Her relationship with her parents can be fixed. And the being most responsible for all of their troubles is not only gone, but showed a little remorse himself at the end. There still isn't much to say about Wally other than he knows more than he should and has a mean swing. Good triumphs over evil-both internally and externally. A+ And since we're also saying good bye (for now) to one of the more compelling original villains of the mid-late 90s, here's a small tribute. |
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Oct 8, 2015 6:07:42 GMT -5
Issue 10  Hidden ThingsTwo young boys are running out of a cave at night, screaming. One turns to take a picture of the thing chasing them, which growls but is not seen. At her apartment, Linda is caring for Dick, who finally wakes up after the events of the previous issue. He doesn't remember anything about what Buzz and Tempus. He says that Linda is his guardian angel and kisses her. Linda thinks to herself that Dick is a much better kisser than Lex Luthor. At a courthouse, the store owner who killed Mattie's brother back in issue 3 is sentenced to a year of psychological observation, prompting Mattie to yell at the judge. The store owner says he is sorry for what he did and tries to apologize to her. Cutter takes Mattie out of the courthouse before she can get herself into trouble. Outside Mattie slaps Cutter to get him to let go of her. Finally calming down, she explains how her brother was the only family she had, and since she says they were the same age I'm pretty sure they were twins. Her brother worked to put her through school. Cutter brings up the fact that most of the town went nuts during the Final Night, and though he doesn't know what happened with her specifically, she knows that she shot the store owner then. Cutter chooses that moment to ask Mattie on a date. He has to review a comedy act and has extra seats, so she can bring Linda and another friend. Mattie decides 'why not.' Mattie goes over to Linda's apartment for comfort. Linda meant to go with her to the courthouse, but with the Tempus craziness and caring for Dick she forgot. But Mattie appreciates the support she's giving now. Mattie invites her to the comedy club, though Linda screams in horror when she tells her that her date is Cutter. A little later, Linda goes out skateboarding with a crowd she hung out with either before becoming Supergirl or possibly before meeting Buzz. Being invulnerable she doesn't need a helmet or pads, but no one else needs to know that. She uses her powers to pull off some stunts to impress her old friends. She asks where the kids who asked her to come out skateboarding again are, and finds out that they are grounded for breaking curfew. They are the kids from the beginning of the issue. Dick shows up, driving a car so beat up everyone starts laughing at him. He's recovered from the Tempus incident and readily agrees to go to the comedy club. At the church, Sylvia tells the reverend (not the one who killed his wife, since he was killed in a flashback) that she is interested in studying for the ministry. Linda and Mattie prepare for their double date together. When they hear Dick honking his car Linda tells Mattie not to make fun of the vehicle, but this time Dick is driving a rolls Royce. It turns out Dick is from a wealthy family, and while he wants to make it on his own, he isn't above accepting the occasional expensive gift from them. They meet Cutter at the comedy club, and Linda asks to see some pictures he's carrying around. The kids who ran out of the cave sold him the pictures they took, and Linda spots Wally in the corner of one of the pictures. The comedy act begins, and Cutter instantly recognizes the comedian, Andy Jones. She tells jokes about her ex-husband which go over very well with everyone but Cutter sinks into his chair in despair. Eventually Andy spots him in the crowd and points him out as the ex she's been ragging on, much to his embarrassment. Seeing as he knows Andy, Cutter has to take the rest of them backstage to meet her afterwards. Since she's new in town Andy asks Linda to show her around the next day, and Linda agrees, much to Cutter's consternation. Afterwards, Supergirl goes to investigate the cave. She'd never seen anything like it before in Leesburg. A burst of hot air pushes her farther into the cave, and she comes across an alien looking cavern with a river running through it. Supergirl hears a call for help and sees a hand sticking through the cavern wall. Someone is trapped behind the wall. Supergirl immediately offers to help, but the last panel reveals that the person trapped is the Silver Banshee. My thoughts: Again a dark issue is followed by a light issue, and again there is virtually no action. I don't know how I would have felt about that if I was reading this back in 1997 even if I had been old enough to read this series then. The Superman books could get away with an issue like this because they were coming out every week. This was a monthly, and unlike issues 7 and 8, which also had next to no action, issue 10 does little to advance any sort of main plot, focusing instead on various subplots. In the context of someone who is reading 3 issues at a time because that is how they come to comixology it works quite well as a breather between the climatic issue 9 and the 2-issue battle to come. Events of earlier issues continue to have consequences. I'm glad to see that the subplot of Mattie's brother wasn't forgotten. Plus she and Cutter are cute as an odd couple. As of this moment Dick hasn't been given enough personality to make him and Linda endearing, and the attempts to pass him off as a loveable loser don't really work because he's too nice and Cutter already fills the 'loser' niche. Andy's jokes are somewhat funny, but all she does is rag on Cutter, which makes her hard to like. And when we eventually find out why their marriage didn't work out (it had nothing to do with anything Cutter did), this episode just makes her look nasty and spiteful. As a breather issue it's fine and funny at times. If Andy had been presented as more than an angry ex it would a B. But as is it'll have to settle for a C+. |
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Oct 9, 2015 8:46:30 GMT -5
Issue 11  Sound and FuryNot knowing who she is helping, Supergirl struggles to break through the stone wall, but it is enchanted so that brute force can't breach it. So she uses a tk blast, and that works. However, Supergirl is horrified to learn that she has freed the Silver Banshee, a magical villain with super-strength whose cry kills anyone whose name she knows and who came very close to killing Superman. With the big 's' on her chest Supergirl is vulnerable to her cry. But Silver Banshee just thanks Supergirl and says goodbye, as if she was normal. Supergirl realizes that Silver Banshee has gone crazy and has no idea that she was ever a super-villain. Supergirl asks what the cave and river are, and Banshee explains that it is a chaos flow that appears when chaotic forces stir up trouble in a area (looking at you, Buzz). It can cause more problems before it runs its coarse, which it demonstrates when tentacles shoot out and drag Supergirl under the water. At the newspaper, Andy furiously confronts Cutter for writing a negative review of her act (she has a point since it was a conflict of interest). They place a bet. If she and Linda don't become fast friends, she'll drop the "ex-husband" jokes. If they do become friends right away, Cutter will write a new, more positive review. Mattie is driving ad thinking about how much anger she has over her brother's death when she spots Silver Banshee just strolling down the street. This causes her to take her eyes off the road and she slams into Fred's police cruiser. He writes her another ticket. Banshee has gone into a beauty parlor and asks them to 'make her beautiful.' Supergirl wakes up in a hellish dimension and is greeted by Lord Satanus, who calls her the 'blue angel.' He also addresses her as Linda as speaks of Supergirl in the third person. He says that Supergirl saved her from being damned to his hell and that she saved Supergirl from oblivion when she would pass on because of her artificial origin. Satanus castigates her for releasing Silver Banshee and tells her that Banshee's form will deteriorate, forcing her to take control of another's body. She won't be able to take control of Supergirl's body, because Supergirl is 'one of the three chosen.' He then sends Supergirl back to earth. Fred comes home, having not gone into work because he is probably suffering whiplash from being rear ended by Mattie. He is surprised to see the reverend having brunch with his wife and to learn from the reverend that she is considering studying for the ministry. Fred gets angry and decides to go to work despite the accident. At the beauty parlor, Silver Banshee is very satisfied with her makeover since she is so out of touch with reality that the reflection she sees in the mirror is of a normal blonde woman. Several police arrive to arrest the obvious supervillain, and she attacks them, beating them up easily. Banshee wonders how she did it and concludes that she must have taken self-defense classes at some point. She walks past Wally. Supergirl is flying through town looking for Silver Banshee and wondering about the things Satanus called her. Mattie walks into a clothing store and again finds Silver Banshee there. She runs out in horror. More police arrive, and this time they open fire right away since Banshee already put other cops in the hospital. They blow Banshee's arm, and this causes her to remember who she is. She ko's them with her scream and then looks at their name tags so she can kill them. Supergirl arrives seconds too late to save them, and they start fighting. Supergirl dodges Banshee's screams, but after being shot Banshee can't dodge her tk blasts and weakens. Supergirl feels bad for Banshee, whose body dissolves. Supergirl hears laughter from behind her. Silver Banshee is back to full strength, having taken over Mattie's body. My thoughts: The art was done by Greg Land? The same Greg Land whose name sends shudders down the spines of every X-Man fan? Where's the tracing? The characters who all look exactly the same? The porn faces? Greg Land was actually decent once upon a time? Don't get me wrong. It's not great, but I've never known Land to ever be anything other than god awful before, so 'ok' is shockingly good with his name attached. What happened to him in the years since this issue came out? PAD gets continuity points for having Supergirl's tk succeed at breaking through a magical barrier that her super-strength couldn't budge. The same was true of another magical barrier in the Blaze-Satanus War. Given the mystical nature of the book, Silver Banshee is a pretty good choice for a Superman villain to bring over. She's given Superman a hard enough to be a real threat to Supergirl, though in this issue she's at a major disadvantage. The prospect of Supergirl fighting another merged being next issue is pretty exiting. We see the introduction of the Chaos Stream and get a bit more information about Supergirl's current state, mainly that she's been 'chosen' for something and there are two others like her. There's a bit of movement on some of the supporting character's subplots, but not much. Overall, this issue serves more as setup for the next one, but it's a good setup. B |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Oct 9, 2015 19:20:37 GMT -5
I actually remember liking Greg Land back in the day.... it wasn't until recently that he started tracing porn for everything.
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Oct 12, 2015 7:25:36 GMT -5
Issue 12  Cries is the DarknessWe open with a flashback to Scotland 20 years ago, when Silver Banshee was a child named Siobhan who suffered from nightmares that monsters were coming to get her. Her mother comforts her and tells her that there will never be any monsters as long as she's around. In the present, Silver Banshee and Supergirl stop fighting in order to have a philosophical conversation about the nature of good and evil. Banshee insists that there exists pure evil and Supergirl insists that everyone has a chance at redemption. Two more cops, including Fred, arrive to arrest Silver Banshee, and Supergirl and Banshee remember that they're supposed to be fighting. Supergirl holds back on the tk this time, as she doesn't want to hurt Mattie, and ends up doing worse against Banshee than she did last issue. Because Mattie is part of Silver Banshee's personality now, she recognizes Fred and is about to kill him for the tickets he wrote her when Supergirl intercepts the scream meant for Fred. Even though the scream wasn't meant for her, it still hurts Supergirl. While Supergirl struggles to get up, Banshee hits her with a scream meant for her, seemingly killing her. Satisfied with killing Supergirl, Banshee sees no point in killing the cops and leaves. We move to a subplot, where Andy is standing outside of Linda's house (which before this issue and after it is an apartment). Of course Linda isn't home because she's out getting herself killed. Cutter drives up to again convince her to drop the whole Linda thing, and she throws coffee on his pants before storming off angrily. Back in town, Wally is walking down the street when he is accosted by a gang of teenagers that want his baseball bat. He proceeds to beat them up until one of them says 'please' then goes on his way. However, while he was preoccupied the fight has ended. Baxk at the plot, everybody is surprised when Supergirl wakes up from the whole being dead thing, including Supergirl herself. It's not like Silver Banshee called her Superwoman by mistake. Supergirl realizes that she survived because her real name isn't Supergirl, but Linda. Overjoyed at finding out that she is a 'real girl,' she lifts Fred into the air and declares "We're alive!" A very confused Fred tells her to put him down so they can track Silver Banshee, which brings her back to earth. She spots Wally, who has been popping up since the Final Night. Something clicks and she tells the cops to stay put while she goes after Banshee, which further annoys and confuses Fred. Since Silver Banshee has merged with Mattie, Supergirl realizes that she shares Mattie's anger at th man who killed her brother, McFee. He is being held at a mental institution in the next town. Supergirl is still very pleased at being a 'real girl,' but is also confused about the way Buzz and Satanus had spoken about her being an angel. At the asylum, on patient is telling his doctor about his dreams of being attacked by martians with skeleton faces when Silver Banshee bursts through the wall, demanding to know where McFee is. The doctor faints, but the patient says he'll take her to McFee is she takes him back to Mars with her. Now it is Banshee's turn to be confused. In another subplot, Dick gets a call from his doctor. The condition he wa shown to be suffering from earlier is revealed to be cancer, but his doctor says that it has not gone into remission, but disappeared entirely. Dick is naturally thrilled to no longer be dying, and it is hinted that Buzz has something to do with the cure. The patient leads Silver Banshee to McFee, but before she can kill him Supergirl arrives. She holds her hand over Banshee's mouth to stop her scream while Banshee tries to choke her. The patients are arguing over whether one stole the other's pudding, and Banshee stops struggling as she realizes that it isn't the same McFee who killed her brother. Banshee also realizes that her scream failed, so she and Supergirl again forget that their supposed to be fighting and resume their discussion from the start of issue. Banshee asks Supergirl if she can find any good in the more criminally insane inmates and insists that she has to kill McFee. Supergirl gives the 'vengeance won't make you feel better' spiel, and the Mattie part of Silver Banshee reveals that she feels guilty for not being there to save her brother. She wishes that Linda were there to help her, and Supergirl hugs her and admits to being Linda and says that she knows Banshee won't kill her with that knowledge because she's going to let go of her hate. Silver Banshee lets go of Mattie, who falls unconscious on the floor. Supergirl continues to hold Banshee as her body dissolves away, repeating the lines her mother said at the beginning of the issue. My thoughts: I made fun of their 'forgetting that their supposed to be fighting' in the summary, but there is a reason for it, namely to show that Supergirl is right about Silver Banshee not being completely evil. She was never as sympathetic when fighting Superman. It's interesting that Supergirl never considered 'Mae,' which is what the Kents and Clark call her, to be her real name. She had no life outside of helping people, which she always did as Supergirl, and she probably went weeks or even months at a time without anyone calling her anything other than Supergirl before merging with Linda. Her realizing that she really is Linda and that she's a 'real girl' is a great moment. Hey joy at the revelation speaks to how frightened she was that she was just a fake person that had stolen Linda's life. On the other side of the coin, since the revelation seems to mean that Linda's personality is the dominant one, it can also suggest that Linda is thrilled to realize that she is really doing all the good Supergirl is doing. This is the point where she stops identifying primarily as Supergirl and instead identifies primarily as Linda. I get a kick out of how the first thing she does when she goes 'I'm a real girl!' is lift up her father like she's about to spin him around. Cutter's dialogue makes me think that he knows the real reason Andy is so interested in getting to know Linda. Still too early to get into that, though. It's interesting how Supergirl takes on a motherly role with how she holds and speaks to Silver Banshee at the end. Even her picking up Fred is the sort of act a parent normally does with a small child. There are a few more points where she'll again take on that sort of role. Between this and a big change in issue 17, I think that if they were to adapt this series into a tv show instead of what they're currently doing the theme song should be something like the Mhysa theme from Game of Thrones (starting from 1:36) Maybe I'll try that idea in the fanfiction forum at some point, how I would make a Supergirl tv show. Would people be interested in seeing that? Clearly I like this issue a lot more than the last 2. It isn't the most action packed, but it has both charm and weight with a little humor to spare (Banshee's reaction to being told 'take me to Mars' is great.' A- |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 12, 2015 8:45:18 GMT -5
I greatly enjoyed this run of Supergirl...but I pretty much enjoy anything that Peter David writes. Love the humour and characterization he brings to everybody. He's one of the few writer's that does it so well IMO that I would enjoy a talking heads issue almost every other issue. Plus the artwork is amazingly consistant throughout the whole run. Even the cheesecake towards the end isn't too bad.
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Oct 13, 2015 3:47:37 GMT -5
Issue 13  IncubusThree girls are waiting outside the Danvers home, hoping for Sylvia's help with a problem that seems to involve a romantic ghost. They are going to Sylvia instead of the reverend because they trust her to keep their confidentiality more than they trust him. Sylvia welcomes them in, recognizing them from the church. After listening to part of their problem, Sylvia is shocked. She asks Fred, who has been watching the tv, to go shopping for her in order to get him out of the house so they can have more privacy. Fred is upset since she already went shopping earlier in the day. He storms out, passing Linda and grumbling about Sylvia only physically being home. Linda doesn't know that her mother wants privacy and enters the house. She hears the conversation about how the three girls are visited by a spirit named Daemon every night in their dreams, which is both pleasurable and frightening. They want Sylvia's help in making Daemon go away. She promises to help and they leave. Linda runs after them to ask for more information. When they mention feeling a paralyzing sensation Linda remembers how Buzz would summon Daemon to enter women's dreams. Her reaction weirds out the girls and they split without giving any more information. Daemon appears to Linda, and she switches to her blonde form to confront him. She demands to know how he can appear when she's not asleep, and he answers cryptically. He warns her to keep her mother out of his way or else he'll make her whole family suffer. Linda is then woken up by Fred. Apparently Daemon had made her fall asleep under a tree. Fred thinks its cute that Linda decided to take an afternoon nap under a tree like he used to when he was a teenager. His good mood goes away as soon as he enters the house. Sylvia is distracted by the Daemon problem, and it turns out she sent him to get something she already had plenty of. Sylvia tells Linda about how many references there are in the bible to demons, which makes her feel overwhelmed. Linda responds by saying that there are just as many references to angels and that Sylvia should have faith in the triumph of good over evil. Fred is further upset by Linda's spouting the same religious 'nonsense' as Sylvia, but Linda continues to go on about the power of faith until Sylvia is partially comforted. While Sylvia prays, Linda decides she'd better do something more concrete before Daemon starts causing real harm. She goes to the local occult shop to research demons and incubi. The owner senses that she is trying to get rid of a demon for real and lets her take the books home for free. At home, Linda reads about various ways of getting rid of demons, including the use of holy water. All the reading, plus it being late at night, makes her drowsy and she falls asleep. She feels a pressure that signals Daemon's arrival. Fortunately Supergirl realizes that with it being her dream she has power. It is only fear that prevents everyone from being able to deal with dream invaders. In fact she let Daemon in this time so she could finish him off. She knocks him into the bathroom, causing water to spew everywhere, and declares that in her dreams the plumbing is done with holy water. Daemon melts away, and Supergirl wakes up. On Sunday, Linda sees that everything is all right with the girls and Daemon is gone for good. My thoughts: This was the only issue in the entire 80 issue run that was not written by PAD. Instead it was written by Daren Vincenzo. As such there is a difference in tone. This issue feels more in line with the other teen books DC was publishing at the time, like Robin and Superboy. It is a lighter and more episodic affair than most of PAD's writing. But it doesn't move away from what PAD was doing either. The villain is a leftover menace from Buzz's cult, which is an idea that could have been used to tell more stories than just this one. The 'Sylvia is pushing Fred away' subplot is continued. Even the 'Supergirl in mother role' from last issue is continued, with her dealing with the exact same problem her mother was dealing with. Daemon is depicted as a stalker rather than an assaulter. I would have liked his powers to be better defined so his threat against Linda's family could be taken more seriously. Could he make people fall asleep at the wheel? Can he actually cause harm in dreams? Both parents see a little of themselves in Linda this time, with Fred remembering his own youth when he catches her napping and Sylvia needing Linda to remind her of her own faith. Seeing them as close is important given what happens next issue. It was also nice to see Linda/Supergirl solve the problem with her head more than with her fists. She's usually powerful enough to brute force her way through problems. I don't have a problem with the occult shop, but I'm glad it wasn't brought back. There's only so often 'reading about the threat to find out how to beat it' can work. This marks the beginning of Leonard Kirk's run on art. He isn't given much a chance to show off here, but I like how he draws the Supergirl costume on Linda. It emphasizes the size difference between her two forms. There's also a little touch where changing into Supergirl causes the buttons on her blouse to open so she has to hold the top part shut to hide the costume and how as Supergirl her pants no longer cover her ankles. In general Kirk is good would little things like that. My main problem is with the girls going to Sylvia. We haven't seen enough of Reverend Varvel to know if he can be of any more help, and Sylvia is herself just a student. I guess it's just easier to talk to another woman. Overall, a decent filler issue that we maybe could have used more of. B- |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2015 6:44:00 GMT -5
Issues 11 and 12 are some of my favorite adventures of her encounter with Silver Banshee. I enjoyed the human struggles that she had go thru in these two issues and they are some of my favorite adventures of Supergirl. Your two reviews are pretty right on the money and I had to re-read them at least 2-3 times and I wanted to let you know that you've certainty done your homework here.
I have been enjoying this thread and keep up the good work that you do.
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Post by SJNeal on Oct 13, 2015 12:32:55 GMT -5
I actually remember liking Greg Land back in the day.... it wasn't until recently that he started tracing porn for everything. , Birds of Prey, Sojourn... He was actually quite good back in the day. I think it was around the end of Sojourn that I started noticing his faces got a bit... weird. |
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Oct 14, 2015 15:16:22 GMT -5
The only annual the series had (there was one before it started that took place in the far future and didn't feature any of the title's cast, so I don't count that)  Secret Hearts Part 1 "I Led Him On"We open with Supergirl and Braniac 5 kissing. Supergirl thinks that she did nothing wrong. All she did was go to him for help and he got all weird and made his infatuation very clear. On the one hand it was frightening, but it was also flattering that 'the smartest boy in the world' chose her. We cut to earlier, where the Legion of Superheroes is hiding out and watching a television show dedicated to superheroes. They run a special on Supergirl, which causes Braniac 5 to become so focused on the special that he doesn't notice anything else, including the chemicals he drops which melt through the floor. In Leesburg, Linda is arguing with her mother over the healthiness of the food the Danvers eat when the stove erupts like a geyser, spraying boiling water everywhere. Linda grabs her mother's arm and drags her out of the kitchen before going back in to turn the stove off. Linda then here's a scream from outside, and looks out the window to see her father's car shrinking with him in it. She changes into Supergirl so she can rip the car open without revealing her secret identity. Supergirl takes her parents to the hospital (they apparently don't think to tell Linda) where reality has gone all screwy. Hummingbirds appear in I.V.s, people's arms stretch, other people start glowing, ect. Mattie tells Supergirl to beat up whoever is responsible. Supergirl flies to the police station. On the way she is attacked by power lines and the tk she uses to defend herself is overpowered. She realizes that she could accidently hurt someone if she uses her tk again. At the police station there is more wackiness, as an officer's gun droops. Supergirl looks at the list of complaints and realizes the horrible truth. She quickly flies away and heads home. Linda realizes that all of the weird events took place in locations where she was, which means that she is the cause. She picks up the phone, only for it to spray fire at her. It turns out that her lamp is now the phone, and she calls Clark to ask him who the smartest person he knows is. Most of the geniuses Clark knows are supervillains, but he has one name for her. At the Legion's hideout, Braniac 5 is busy in his lab when Spark buzzes him to tell him that Supergirl is there to see him. He drops more chemicals and is embarrassed when the girls come in to see that he has burned away the front of his pants, revealing his underwear. When Supergirl asks for Brainy's help, his white monkey jumps onto her shoulder, clearly liking her. Brainy thinks 'I'm yours, goddess.' Supergirl flies Brainy to a location he specified. He explains that there are a lot of possible scientific reasons for what is happening to her, but the fact that it only happens around her, and then only in Leesburg, is disturbing. He has her pick an apple from a nearby tree, and it explodes. Brainy insists that he be taken back and that he won't help any more because she is being affected by magic and he never gets involved with anything magical. He gets Supergirl to admit that she has had to deal with a demon invasion. Supergirl tells herself 'she won't do this' several times before putting her head on his shoulder and begging. Brainy's hormones make him agree to help. Back at his lab, Brainy gives Supergirl a force field belt to contain the magic and has her get a bunch of magical items. When he tells her to be back in an hour she replies 'it's a date,' which causes Brainy to literally jump for joy. Part 2 'I Lied for Love'The first page is the same kiss from the beginning of the issue, just from Brainiac 5's point of view. He thinks that he did everything wrong. He thinks that it was all deliberate, that his brilliant mind immediately went to work on making Supergirl his. He thinks that he wanted to 'own her' and that he sold himself out to do it. Spark comes into the lab, dressed very cheaply like Supergirl and teasing Brainy. She is surprised to see him using magical items. Spark and the other Legionares have a conversation about how Brainy's mother left when he was born and he's consequently had a thing for strong blondes. Spark says that Supergirl is playing Brainy just as Supergirl comes back, which leads to a confrontation. Spark tells Supergirl to stop playing with Brainy, which causes Supergirl to get defensive. Brainy shows up in a magicians outfit and he and Supergirl leave. Brainy and Supergirl set up a bubbling cauldron and it looks like they are burning themselves in effigy (I'm serious. They tie dolls of themselves above the cauldron). Supergirl gives Brainy the force field belt since he's not invulnerable, and he casts a spell to figure out who is responsible for what is happening. Brainy screams in pain, and then realizes that there is nothing there. The ground starts wobbling like ocean waves and Supergirl sees that Leesburg is disappearing. She wants to go there, but Brainy holds her back. She angrily lets out a tk blast and accidently creates a crater. This calms her down. Brainy admits that he just made everything worse, but he also figured out what is going on. They go to Leesburg's library to find some truth, because the problem is a 'unreality fatigue,' which literally means that reality has gotten tired and gone to sleep due to magic. he only fix is to 'invoke enough truth to punch a hole in the world.' Unfortunately scientific truth is not enough and the town continues to disappear. Brainy reactivates the force field, and the town reappears. However, the magic around Supergirl still exists inside the force field, which contracts, forcing them together. Brainy is being crushed to death against her invulnerable form. Supergirl tries an emotional truth, and admits that she's been leading Brainy on to get his help. This punches a hole in his world and causes the force field to go back to its normal size. Brainy then admits that he's betrayed everything he believes in order to improve his chances of "mating" (his words) with her. And what's worse, he doesn't know if he's really attracted to her or is just attracted to all strong blondes. These admissions of truth wake reality back up and things go back to normal. Before they leave, Brainy asks Supergirl what she's looking for in a mate and she kisses him, the same kiss that we've seen twice already. She thanks him, and he is ina better mood when he gets back to the hideout, feeling that he did something right after all. My thoughts: It was kind of cute, but again relies on the protagonists being idiots. And if we are supposed to feel bad for Braniac 5, having him admit that he wants to 'own' Supergirl and that the whole time he was plotting to have sex with her is not the way to go about it. The best part was the beginning when it looked like another Mxyzptlk incident. It was also dumb of Supergirl to continue to insist on getting his help once he realized there was magic going on. At that point the mart thing would have been to go to a magic expert like Dr. Fate or Zatanna. Under the circumstances, and given what he had in mind for her, I can't really blame her for leading him on. It was a desperate situation. These teamups seem to have similar issues with how the characters are portrayed. And it doesn't come off as a tribute to the Kara/Braniac 5 relationship so much as an exploration of his Oedipus complex. D+ Backup story: Object of DesireSupergirl is losing to a killer robot when Lance the armored hero arrives to save the day. He beats the robot, catches Supergirl, and they are about to kiss when Lance's boss wakes him out of his daydream and tells him to deliver a pizza order. One of Lance's coworkers, Kristy, is infatuated with him despite how much of a loser he is. Meanwhile, a granary just outside of town has filled its silos beyond capacity, causing a danger in the event of static electricity. One of the silos promptly explodes. At the pizza shop, Kristy tries to talk to Lance, but he is too infatuated with Supergirl to notice when a girl is interested in him and she sulks off. The boss gives Lance another order, but when he sees Supergirl flying overhead he drops the pizza and follows her. Kristy is watching the news about how Supergirl is helping with the silo situation and realizes that Lance must have run off there. She follows as well. At the granary, the firefighters don't have enough water to fight the fire, so Supergirl dumps a big water container over it. Lance is watching, amazed, when another silo bursts open and buries him in grain. Kristy sees this and she and the firefighters go to dig him out while Supergirl uses her tk to keep the fire hoses in place. Later, Lance wakes up in the hospital. The nurse tells him that the person who saved him is waiting outside, and he assumes it is Supergirl, much to Kristy's dismay. However, once he is told the full story Lance decides to get together with Kristy and she actually agrees instead of punching him in the face. He even fails to notice Supergirl flying by this time. My thoughts: Poor Supergirl. First Buzz, then Braniac 5, now this Lance loser. She's a magnet for obsessive creepy guys. I don't know what any girl would see in Lance. Yes, the after-school message about the dangers of obsession comes across quite clear, but Kristy can do so much better than that loser. Neither of these stories was done by PAD, and that serves to highlight a difference in how he writes her powers compared to how other write them. In the past Supergirl had full tk, even fully rearranging the molecules of Superman's clothes from a distance. But PAD mostly limits it to a 'tk blast.' Chuck Dixon, who wrote this latter story, has her moving multiple fire hoses at once like the pre-PAD days. It's not the worst after-school special, but thank god we're getting back to the main plot in issue 14. C- |
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Oct 14, 2015 15:23:25 GMT -5
Also, something I forgot to note last time. Issue 13 confirms that Linda, while legally an adult, is still a teenager at this point.
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Oct 15, 2015 4:52:10 GMT -5
Issue 14
Secrets and Lies
Supergirl wonders what she's done. Leesburg must be tearing itself apart in a panic like it did during the Final Night. She kicks herself for spending so much time with Superman and the Justice League, even though she's the only hero who's powers have been affected by the Godwave she's just a face in the crowd there,while Leesburg has no one else. With an alien armada sitting in space, preparing to blow up earth, the panic level must be off the charts.
Except that when she arrives, everything is calm. Around the world riots and mass hysteria are breaking out, but Leesburg as a whole acts like it's a normal day.
Dick is on the phone with his mother at his shop, assuring her that everything is fine in Leesburg. Linda comes in to ask what's up with the town not panicking. Dick says that they've seen so much craziness in the last few months that the townsfolk are probably to shell shocked to react anymore.
He also admits that he told his parents about Linda, since he tells them everything. He tells her it would suck to have the last thing on your mind when the world ends to be something you should have told your loved ones but didn't. She agrees and flies off before he can tell her that he's cured from the cancer he never admitted to having.
Supergirl decides that it's finally time to come clean about her merger, but decides it can wait a little longer when she spots a squad of police cars headed to an active crime scene.
There is a hostage situation at the local art museum. The robbers are upset because the displays are only for local talent and the expensive stuff is only in storage at the moment. The leader demands that one of the employees "show him the Monet."
He is about to shoot her when the glass part of the ceiling shatters.
Outside Fred and other policemen have the building surrounded. When Supergirl arrives he jokes that if they keep running into each other people are going to start talking. The doors open, and the criminals are all tied up.
Supergirl spots someone flying away and gives chase. However, this 'Comet' flies rings around her and causes frost to form on her costume in his escape.
As Fred is dealing with putting the crooks away Sylvia comes to see him. She thinks he doesn't want her to study for the ministry, but he says he's just upset that she never consulted him. Sylvia puts some quarters in a parking meter to prevent Fred from writing a ticket as he says that she would have been right to make her own decision if he was against it, just like her going against her father to marry him.
They're back on good terms. Cutter runs up to beg Fred not to give him a ticket but sees that there is still time on the meter because of Sylvia's generosity. Fred spots that his break light is out, but decides to let it slide.
In Smallville, Jonathan Kent is lifting heavy bales of hay over Martha's objections when Linda arrives and helps him out. He is confused since he has never seen her before, and she assumes her blonde form. Jonathan hugs her enthusiastically and asks what this "Linda" business was about. She says that she'll tell them and that she wants their advice on what to do afterwards.
Mattie is sitting on a bench, thinking about what happened when she was possessed by Silver Banshee. She remembers that Linda was there, except Linda wasn't there, and now she doesn't know what is real or not anymore.
A horse coming up to her face frightens her. The horse is called Byron, and it is being ridden by Dick. Byron has a comet mark on his forehead.
Suddenly Byron neighs and throws Dick off. They give chase in Mattie's car, which is still damaged from the accident with Fred in issue 11. They come across a burning building. Mattie starts administering first aid to the wounded when a cold wind blows the fire out.
Back in Smallville, Supergirl has explained her dual identity to the Kents, who take it very well. In fact Martha thinks what Mae did in saving Linda was brave. But they believe that it is wrong not to tell the Danvers. Supergirl agrees, but she is scared to. They trust her to make the right decision, and agree to start calling her Linda instead of Mae.
Back in Leesburg, Mattie is done helping the injured and wonders who the new superhero is since Supergirl doesn't leave ice behind her. She realizes that she lost track of Dick and wonders if he is the superhero. Then Cutter arrives and decides to call the new hero 'Comet,' declaring that this could make him the new Lois Lane. Mattie then wonders if Cutter is Comet. THEN Andy shows up in time to become another of Mattie's suspects. And THHHHEEEENNN the horse reappears and Mattie almost loses it. She decides she's only hanging out with people she knows are normal like Linda.
Linda nervously arrives at her parents' house, accidently interrupting their make-up sex, which embarrasses all three of them. She sits them on the couch and tells them she has something important to say.
Sylvia immediately assumes that Linda is pregnant, and when she assures them she's not Sylvia then assumes that Linda is gay. Frustrated at not being able to get to her point, Linda screams what might be the best line ever. "I'm not pregnant! I'm not gay! I'm Supergirl!"
As she tries to explain how it happened, Fred assumes that this is all because of the trauma she went through with her kidnapping and that maybe she should see a psychiatrist.
Linda then turns into Supergirl to prove it and floats above them. She says that she wants a clean start.
Sylvia then screams in horror and Fred demands to know what Supergirl has done with his daughter. She tries to assure him that she is his daughter, but he yells that she is a thing and freak and that she should get out.
Supergirl flies out of the door crying. She wishes Tempus would come and turn back time again and make the hurt go away. Echoing her thoughts from the first page, she wonders what she has done.
My thoughts: Well, that's a whammy.
This issue ties into the Genesis event, where the powers of all the heroes who were from the main universe started going haywire except for Supergirl's because of her pocket universe origin. It looked like she's have an important role to play during the first half of the event, but in the second half she was reduced to being the head of 'Superman cheerleader squad.'
It really does seem that Leesburg has gotten used to end-of-the-world events. Or maybe they're collectively ashamed of what happened during the Final Night. Supergirl seems to have forgotten that the talisman was the main reason the town went nuts then.
Mattie's suspecting everyone, including the horse, is a funny rebuttal to the idea that Lois should have figured out that Clark is Superman early on. If you look for that kind of evidence you're going to start seeing superheroes everywhere and make yourself paranoid, so by not doing that Lois is saving her sanity.
It's ironic that Mattie thinks that Linda is the only normal person in her life. I've been reading a fanfic that continues after this series where she feels betrayed after learning that Linda isn't normal.
Cutter....no. You are not the next Lois Lane. And you are definitely not prettier. Just no.
I was surprised they had Linda come out to her parents this soon. In the 90s no one admitted that they were a superhero to their parents. Maybe their parents find out anyway, but they don't admit it first. So this was very unusual, especially only 14 issues in. It makes sense-her not telling them put them in danger in issues 8 and 9, and in issue 12 she finally became sure that she really was Linda and not some soul-stealing blob.
After the long reconciliation process they went through, after Linda's comforting Sylvia just last issue and the hug with Fred in issue 9, to have them react in that way is a blow to both Linda and the reader. To have her own parents call her a freak-yeesh.
Maybe she could have done a better job explaining. It definitely wasn't the right time to transform. Now the family is broken I=even worse than before. And Supergirl has lost her best friend in the police.
As I stated before, I love it when the Kents are included. It's understandable that she goes to them first. Interestingly she doesn't think to tell Superman. But the Kents are more experienced with superhero craziness than the Danvers, and she went to them as much for advice as to tell them the truth. She identifies so much as Linda that she wants them to call her that now.
Then there is this glorious scene.
It makes me more sad that the coming out scene, while having some humor in this version, was reduced to nothing more than a joke for the tv show, and a less funny joke at that.
The whole issues builds up to a punch to the emotional gut that turns everything on its head. This is what separates PAD from other writers of teen books like Chuck Dixon (whose run on Robin is also amazing) A |
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Post by sunofdarkchild on Oct 16, 2015 8:42:17 GMT -5
Issue 15  Gods of the TwilightAt night, two guards at the Charlotte wax museum are talking about the models of the Extremists, supervillains who nearly took over the world years ago. The fat guard is creeped out by them, but the skinny guard insists that they're harmless. Lightning knocks the power out, and the skinny guard goes to fix the circuit breakers. In the darkness, a robed figure enters the museum from above and calls down more lightning. The fat guard thinks that he hears something, and one of the Extremists comes alive. The skinny guard gets the power back, but by the time he does the Extremists are gone, the fat guard is dead, and his blood has been used to write the words 'We're back' on the wall. Sylvia is having a nightmare where Linda is standing in the middle of a fire, begging her mother to save her. She asks why Sylvia left her to Supergirl and tells her to look at what Supergirl has done to her as her skin melts off and she burns. Sylvia wakes up screaming, which also wakes up Fred. Sylvia wants to go on 'a walk' which Fred is immediately against. They are shocked to see Supergirl floating outside their window. She tells them that the Genesis event is over and the world is safe and tries to assure them that she really is Linda. When she calls Fred 'Daddy' he yells at her not to call him that at leaps out the window at her. She catches him and puts him down back in the bedroom. Fred accuses her of 'absorbing' Linda and asks how many other people she's done that to. She changes into Linda, but rather than reassure her parents it just freaks them out more, with Sylvia calling it just a mask. Realizing that she's just making things worse, Supergirl flies out, and Sylvia asks what kind of god would do this. We cut to Wally's house, where his grandparents try to sit him down and tell him that they are worried about his lack of friends and his overall strangeness. But Wally just says that he has somewhere else to be and leaves. When his grandfather goes after him Wally has disappeared. Linda is talking to the Kents over the phone and going through tissue box after tissue box. Martha offers to let her stay with them for a while, and Linda agrees that getting out of town for a bit would be a good idea. At that moment Dick knocks on the door and offers to take her to Charlotte to meet his mother. Linda jumps at the chance, causing Dick to think that he has mad skills with the ladies. Andy is driving her motorcycle to Linda's place, thinking that Linda has a secret she keeps hidden from the world and maybe even herself. But she stops when she sees Linda driving away in Dick's car and remarks about bad timing. At a warehouse in Charlotte, the Extremists are wondering what's up with the one who resurrected them, a costumed woman named Twilight. Lord Havok tries to attack her, but she makes him collapse with a gesture. She wants them to cause havoc and death, but only in one city at a time. Mattie is visiting her brother's grave. She tells him that something happened and now she can't hate McFee for killing him anymore even though she wants to hate him. She asks her brother to forgive her. Dick is talking to his mother on the phone while driving (this was back in the days when some cars came with wired phones) when the Extremists start their attack, blowing up his mother's house. Dick stops at a gas station to try a different phone and they see the attack on the tv. Dick tells Linda to take a cab back to Leesburg while he goes to find his mother. Of course Linda changes to Supergirl instead and goes to help. Sylvia goes to the Church to tell the reverend that she quits. She feels that either there is no god or he doesn't care about people, so she can't care about him. Wally just stands there watching her as she leaves. The Extremists are reveling in being able to kill people again when Supergirl shows up. She wonders if there is another chaos stream under Charrlotte or if she just has terrible luck. She actually holds her own until Gorgon grabs her with his tentacles and slams her down. Tracer then slashes her hand, and she remembers how Tempus cut her. Enraged, Supergirl unleashes fire from her eyes, burning Tracer. The shock of using this power she had no idea she had leaves her open to a blast from Lord Havok. When Supergirl gets back up, a shadow envelops her, making her feel cold. She passes out, and Twilight appears, insisting that the Extremists not finish Supergirl off because it would be "the end of amusement." Supergirl dreams that she sees herself floating with angel wings. She wakes up to see Powergirl standing over her. My thoughts: Kirk has some of his best work here. The panel of all the empty tissue boxes and used tissues again shows his penchant for little touches. And then there's this page, which might be the best image of Supergirl ever featured in a comic book.  Just awesome. And it again makes me sad that the direction they are going with the tv show seems to preclude having images like this. We see how Mattie was affected by the episode with Silver Banshee. She's let go of her hate, which is a big step for her. Her brother was 19, and if they are twins as was implied then there is a little more evidence that Linda is under 20 since she and Mattie are the same age. Andy seems to have similar thoughts about Linda as Braniac 5 had about Supergirl. "Show her a good time, and then who knows?" I think PAD was getting tired of being subtle. Dick finally has a little personality! It's about time. That "Damn, I'm good." line does more to flesh him out than all the cancer talk and southern drawl jokes combined. Onto more serious matters, the whole Danvers family is still suffering through the results of Linda's coming out as Supergirl. Far from Sylvia's faith helping her come to terms with it as Martha Kent said it would, he faith is making the revelation hurt even worse. She's taking it as a personal failing, since she was the one who asked Supergirl to save Linda in the first place. She's even stopped believing in god over it. Her nightmare is disturbing, with the way Linda's face melts off. Fred's anger issues have returned. Poor Linda can't stop crying. The two people she loves the most are not only terrified of her, but think she's an alien freak that killed their daughter. I haven't seen many other 'parental rejections' that hurt worse than this. The Extremists first kill is also disturbing. There's a real horror movie vibe in that first scene. Twilight first appears here, and a villain powerful enough and possessing a personality forceful enough to keep the Extremists in line is someone to watch. This is also the first appearance of Supergirl's flame vision, which is not a force beam or heat like heat vision, but actual fire. It's kind of useless for someone who already has really powerful tk, but can occasionally make for a cool visual. Again, I greatly enjoyed this issue. The personal drama is well done, the art is great, and the new villain is intriguing. A- |
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